Week 5 World Cup Final Preview

We are a few days away from the most important football match , played once every four years…before previewing this event lets recap the quarters as well as semi-finals ( one in particular though )

Quarter Finals

Brazil 2-1 Colombia – Goals from the central defenders , Thiago Silva and David Luiz cancelled out a late James penalty and the hosts advanced to the last four. Gloom set in few hours after the match , when Neymar was confirmed out of the tourney with a fractured vertebra.

France 0-1 Germany – A solitary goal by Mats Hummels was enough for Germany to see off France. Goalkeeper , Manuel Neuer was solid throughout.

Netherlands 0-0 Costa Rica ( AET Netherlands win 4-3 on penalties ) – Tim Krul rose from bench in injury time of extra time and inspired a 4-3 win for the Dutch over Cost Rica.

Argentina 1-0 Belgium – Gonzalo Higuain was Argentina’s hero with an early goal that took them through to the semi-final at the expense of Belgium.

And we were down to Four and on to the semi-finals. The first of which between Brazil and Germany in Belo Horizonte produced the most extraordinary result in World Cup football history of all time…

BRAZIL 1 – 7 GERMANY – The brilliance of Joachim Low’s side together with some shambolic defending from A Seleção ( minus suspended captain and rock, Thiago Silva ) played a part in this historic match. In an incredible six-minute period ( between 23rd and 29th minute ) , the Brazilian net bulged four times.

Some facts post this result :

Brazil first defeat in a competitive match at home since 1975.

By scoring Germany’s second goal, Miroslav Klose became most prolific goal scorer in World Cup history.

Brazil had never before trailed by four goals in any World Cup match. That’s 102 previous matches.

Germany are now the all-time top scoring team in World Cup history with 223 goals.They passed Brazil at 220 in first half.

ARGENTINA 0-0 NETHERLANDS ( Argentina win 4-2 on penalties ) – Things got only worse for the hosts, when their arch-rivals advanced to the Final in Rio. After 120 goalless minutes, Argentina sunk the Netherlands 4-2 on penalties with goalkeeper Sergio Romero emerging as the match-winner.

Two matches remain , while the 3rd and 4th play-off between Brazil and Netherlands in Brasilia on Saturday ( 10pm S.A. ) will be of not much relevance, while the following days Final between Germany and Argentina ( 9pm SA ) will give bragging rights to the winners for the next four years and hero status to each squad member for eternity. The nations have met 20 times before , with 6 Germany wins , 5 draws , and 9 Argentina victories. VERDICT – a win for my pre-tournament picks ARGENTINA……